1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication relay device and a communication relay method.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, as a part of a network system performing data communication, access points are utilized which wirelessly communicate with wireless communication devices to connect the wireless communication devices to the network. In order to prevent access to a network by unauthorized users (also referred to as “unauthorized access”), the access points determine, when a wireless communication device is to be connected to a network, whether the connection can be permitted. For such determination, various methods are employed. For example, a method using an address which is unique to individual wireless communication devices (e.g., so called MAC address: Media Access Control address) is employed. In another example, a method using a common key (password) which is preliminarily registered to an access point and its corresponding wireless communication device (e.g., Wi-Fi Protected Access—pre-shared key (WPA-PSK), and WPA2-PSK) is employed. In another example, a method utilizing an authentication server (e.g., Extensible Authentication Protocol (WPA2-EAP)) in addition to an access point is employed (for these techniques, see Japanese Patent No. 4218934, for example).
An access point performs the determination based on a predetermined method. If the access point obtains a positive determination result from the determination using the method, the access point connects a wireless communication device to the network. If the access point does not obtain a positive determination result, the access point does not connect the wireless communication device to the network. Thus, if the access point cannot obtain a positive determination result for some reasons, the access point does not permit connection between the wireless communication device and the network even if the wireless communication device is a device owned by an authorized user. Examples of such reasons include, for example, communication failure in a communication route between the access point and the authentication server, and an incorrect setting by the user. For various reasons like these, there has been a possibility of impairing authorized users' convenience.
An object of the present invention is to solve one or more of the above-described problems, and to provide a technique of reducing the possibility of impairing the authorized users' convenience.